Greg Sargent takes a look at a campaign angle that is getting a lot of attention this morning: why is Trump polling so well with white evangelicals?
All this has deeply puzzled some evangelical leaders. The Post quotes one evangelical leader describing Trump as a “thrice married owner of casinos with strip clubs,” and adding that he is “the most immoral and ungodly man to ever run for President of the United States.”
But even if Trump is not a very good Christian in the eyes of some evangelical leaders, the Times interviews with evangelical voters suggest that Trump’s personal morality may not matter much to them. Instead, Trump’s success among evangelical voters may be rooted in the fact that, more than any other GOP candidate, Trump is able to speak to their sense of being under siege. Trump somehow conveys that he understands on a gut level that both Christianity and the country at large are under siege, and what’s more, he is not constrained by politically correct niceties from saying so and proposing drastic measures to reverse this slide into chaos and godlessness.
Maybe some of these folks should listen to more of Howard Stern’s radio show. Back in 2013, Stern invited Trump to appear on his show and questioned his sudden metamorphosis into a social conservative. “Are you really anti-abortion?” Stern asked. “I know you’re not. There’s no way.”
It’s true, Stern actually knows Trump.
“I know you. There is no way that you, personally, are against abortion. You know there’s too many motherf*ckers around here, out of their minds. They’ve got people having babies, they can’t take care of them. … Thank God there’s abortion. I know you believe it.”
Trump insisted he was sincere but Stern and his co-host Robin Quivers quite justifiably refused to believe him.
They also didn’t believe for a moment that he was actually against gay marriage: “If I was alone in a room with you, and you and I were just having a drink, I don’t think you care about gay marriage. I think you’re all for it. I know you. You’re for people being happy.”
Maybe evangelicals believe that Trump is serious when he apes their views, but the people who know Trump best know better.
And, yet, a lot of white evangelical voters don’t seem to care if he’s serious.
“Spirituality is a big issue, but we need somebody who’s strong,” a Kentuckian named Charles E. Henderson told the New York Times. “Lots of times the preachers and everything, they have a tendency to be just a little bit weak.”
Okay, so maybe folks like Mr. Charles E. Henderson of Kentucky are feeling under siege and want someone who can “reverse this slide into chaos and godlessness.” I can understand that. It’s just that Mr. Henderson might want to hold out for a strong leader who sincerely agrees with him about what constitutes godliness.
I don’t know what it is in particular that is bothering Mr. Henderson. Did Donald Trump address any of his concerns when he appeared at Liberty University on Martin Luther King Day and said, ““If I’m president, you’re going to see ‘Merry Christmas’ in department stores, believe me”?
Is that what people want? A president who calls up Macy’s and tells them to take down their ‘Happy Holidays’ signs?
We really need to dig a little deeper into this siege mentality. What’s most important to these voters? That Donald Trump’s hometown doesn’t get hit by another terrorist attack? That their kids don’t have to go to school with Latino children? That their views on homosexuality don’t become as socially unacceptable as their grandfathers’ views of racial equality?
What about the pitch Bernie Sanders is making that all of this stuff is a massive distraction that keeps them from looking out for their economic interests? Does anything Bernie is saying resonate with these folks even the slightest little bit?
I suspect Sanders can do well with some of these voters, but the less evangelical they are, the better. There seems to be something tribal going on with evangelicals, and the Democrats are definitely seen as their enemy (or besiegers).
It’s just my educated guess, but I think the explanation here is that evangelicals are feeling deeply disrespected. The coastal elites think they’re stupid, racist, intolerant, and immoral. The courts are telling them that their personal beliefs are discriminatory. The GOP leadership wants their votes but has a track record littered with failure to deliver on their promises. The strong suspicion is that the GOP establishment has been conning them all along. Add to it that a lot of the American economy has been hollowed out, particularly in the interior and rural areas. I don’t think you even need to get into fear of terrorism to explain where these folks are coming from. They’re angry with everyone.
They like Trump because he’s calling people names. He’s insulting all the powerful people that evangelicals want to see insulted.
Maybe it’s more complicated than this, but I doubt it.
The only thing I had trouble figuring out is why they aren’t so sick of getting conned that they’re on the lookout for a transparent fake like Trump.
Then it dawned on me. All the other Republican candidates are transparent fakes, too. That’s clear to them now.
So, at least with Donald, they can get the entertainment of an insult-comic while they’re getting taken to the cleaners…again.
What about the pitch Bernie Sanders is making that all of this stuff is a massive distraction that keeps them from looking out for their economic interests?
Bernie Sanders can say that all he wants, and so can the author of What’s the Matter with Kansas?, and on and on and on. The empirical evidence indicates rather overwhelmingly that many people’s votes have little or nothing to do with “objective” economic factors. Many people really do base their votes on “cultural” factors. Wishing that were not true is absurd.
These people value things more than their economic well being. I’m uncomfortable saying caring about things more than money is bad.
Exactly. Plus he is precisely the outsider New York fornicator never-heard-of-the-Bible-until-last-year showing them respect. The show of respect doesn’t mean so much coming from actual Republicans. Because (dirtiest secret) they respect Trump the fucker more than Huckabee/Cruz/Bush/Rubio the hookers.
Plus he is precisely the outsider New York fornicator never-heard-of-the-Bible-until-last-year showing them respect.
Or what feels like “respect” to them. Something they haven’t seen in a raw and unapologetic form by a major presidential candidate since 1968. They and their kinfolks shifted to the GOP in 1972 then backslid in 1976 to go with a born again Christian, but four years later signed onto the GOP and have never since looked back. That’s three generations now passing down their hate, anger, disappointments. They never even noticed that before the “moral majority” was organized that they were fine with birth control and abortion as they understood the financial costs of too many children. But hate and anger needs scapegoats and one scapegoat is as good as another if the messenger is a preacher and repeats the message of who and what are the devils often enough. But a junkie needs more dope to get the same high and that’s what Trump is delivering.
Sad really — but there’s no reasoning with them. If the GOP nominee is Bush or Rubio and Clinton is the DEM nominee, most will show up and vote, GOP. If the DEM nominee is Sanders, most won’t show up, but those that do won’t vote 100% GOP. Any fundie votes for Sanders won’t be for the right reasons, but once tried they may develop a taste for it.
Astute, as always, Marie…but I can’t help wondering: maybe even this is just way too complex and respectful. Maybe the message never mattered…maybe the entire phenomenon of right-wing orthodoxy is much more elemental and child-like, having to do less with any specific doctrine (abortion, immigrants etc.) and more to do with just the sensation of a loud, authoritative voice reinforcing your anger and fear.
Immature, yes. And they do respond positively to tough-talking demagogues. But beyond that, it does seem to me that a feeling of being seen and respected by the demagogues is more important than whatever is explicitly said. People like people that they think or feel like them. Then they project they’re biases, prejudices, etc. onto the person that likes them. Only a racist, sexist, etc. could possibly like other racists, sexists, etc.
You think that there may be fundie votes for Sanders? Why? I’d really like to know your logic on this.
No. However, I do think there is fundie fatigue with GOP corporate milquetoast POTUS candidates that don’t connect with fundies and if elected wouldn’t deliver on whatever it is that fundies think they want. There is a limit to how many times all the same people can be fooled with the same BS.
They’d probably hang in there for a Trump or Cruz nominee regardless of the DEM nominee. They will most definitely vote GOP if Clinton is the nominee. A Bush or Rubio nominee v. Sanders will cause a degree of distress for some of them. Most that feel that are likely to opt out of voting or pick a third party candidate. However, a $15 minimum wage might persuade a small percentage to vote for their own tangible interest.
Thank you, that makes sense.
BTW, I’m hearing pushback on $15 from skilled tradesmen. “I have a skill that took time and money to acquire. Why should some stumble bum making fries at McDonald’s make the same as me?” That’s a typical comment, more blunt than most. I tried to argue that $15 minimum would exert upward pressure on all wages, but I’m not even convinced myself. There has to be demand for wages to rise from market pressure. There just is excess labor supply for the demand. That, and not prejudice, is what makes these white tradesmen anti-immigration. Job fear. It’s powerful.
Why are skilled tradesmen only earning $15/hour? It wasn’t so long ago that fairer wages, based on the skill level required for a job, actually existed in this country. But that was one income and wealth inequality were declining and workers received their fair share of productivity gains and increased profits.
What you’re hearing is from those that haven’t learned to look at how much “the man” is taking and instead keep worrying about those below him that might get an extra nickel or two. IOW that mentality of poor whites enforcing Jim Crow.
Capitalists love cheap labor and they only get away with it when workers fight among themselves.
Wages are low here and going lower. Illinois no longer sends out license plate renewal notices. The state museums are closed and may lose accreditation. There is no state budget and the Governor (a Scott Walker clone) and the House Speaker are horn locked like two elks in mating season. We truly are going to Hell in a handbasket. A newspaper survey last year showed that half of the population would leave the state if not for financial ties (like you can’t sell a house, the market is dead).
Ah, but all the examples you cite have nothing to do with the markets. Those are the result of voter choices in favor of “small government” which in turn feeds the demand for private sector cheap labor and high profits for the ownership class.
All a GOP wet dream that a majority of Democrats assisted in partially make it come true. Really have little patience for the whining from those that participated in choosing this direction for the US government and economy. Suckers for “low taxes,” “markets know best,” and “government is the problem.”
A lot of good observations. Trump’s ‘appeal’ cuts new angles across a lot of different conventional storylines.
Speaking of insult comics, here’s one of the best…
Triumph Visits A Republican Debate
I think the issues go much deeper. for most ppl, living in a culture that the best it has to offer most ppl is buying more gadgets and pretty much destroys the the social fabric via these gadgets, whereby ppl relate primarily to a screen and not to other ppl, then add lots of economic hardship and uncertainty – most live with a tremendous amount of distress and not much of a way out is offered. are any of the candidates proposing anything to deal with the larger issues? yes, Sanders is. have to laugh when HRC talks about dealing with the addiction issue. Trump, doesn’t offer anything but he really taps into the emotions, the lostness and sense of not seeing a way out.
The coastal elites think their stupid, racist, intolerant, and immoral.
And for the most part, they live up to that perception. So yeah, it’s not much more complicated than that.
And never underestimate the fundie “okay for me but not for thee” attitude toward a lot of things like abortion.
These people are the Republican Party and Trump is the id of the modern Republican Party. That’s why, along with the other stuff, they’re willing to overlook has manifest display of ungodliness in his personal life.
Isn’t rage addictive. It seems to be.
not per se that I know but re: PTSD there are factors
Trump is a good example of the point that I make occasionally.
Issues do not matter in politics. Everyone says that they do. But when people vote, they don’t vote for issues. Issues are actually kind of irrelevant.
People vote for the candidate with the appropriate persona. And Trump’s persona of supreme confidence, great self-assuredness, and a clarity of vision (regardless of what the vision is) appeals to many.
And as to the fact that Donald never opened the Bible prior to a month ago, that’s OK, since the evangelicals know it, and have already discounted his feeble attempts at pretence of religion.
Trump is their WHITE guy.
Period.
Why y’all making this all complicated?
With two exceptions, they are all white guys. One’s a black guy (although he may be dropping out due to the accident) and one’s a woman. So, I’m not sure that the color of his skin matters. It’s the content of his character.
Right-wing authoritarians like social dominators who are also perceived as winners (wealthy), who tell them that their morals and views are correct (make America…great…again).
Add to that Trump’s refusal to play the dog whistle, and by supporting Trump, you’re supporting someone who is openly a bigot, and you can feel…great again…doing so too.
Donald Trump got the most precious of credentials for the evangelicals through the message of god himself: “Wealth is a gift of grace from the Almighty.”
From my comment about Mitt Rombey 4 years ago …
○ Oral Roberts and Seed Faith: Prosperity Doctrine (Health, Wealth, and Prosperity)
Many US Christians are actually Mammon worshipers.
You can tell, because they worship wealth, and those who have already been blessed by Mammon with wealth.
They’re pretty easy to spot, and I make sure to trot out every NT verse I know where their alleged God criticizes wealth and the wealthy. It’s always a hoot.